John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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236. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will urgently review the decision to provide only an 8-classroom permanent school building for a school (details supplied); the reason her Department has not approved a 16-classroom school building, given that both current and projected enrolment figures on record with the Department clearly demonstrate sustained oversubscription for junior infant places year-after-year; whether her Department will now proceed with approval for a 16-classroom school as a Phase 2 development in order to meet the growing demographic needs of the school community; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [67511/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The project for the school referred to by the Deputy is part of a campus project and is currently at the initial stage of architectural planning – Stage 1, where a site and current building assessment is carried out, and initial design sketch schemes are created.

Currently the Programme Manager and design team anticipate the Stage 1 Submission will be available to the Department in the coming weeks, and that the Stage 1 Stakeholders Meeting will be held before the end of December 2025. The school and patron body will be updated as to the progression of the project on completion of the Stage 1 review.

My department will continue to work collaboratively with the patron in relation to the brief for the school. The current brief is for an 8-classroom school plus 2 SEN Classes but also provides for the master planning of the site for a potential expansion of the brief in order to cater for 16-classrooms plus 4 SEN (special education needs) classes. In line with the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines, projects are subject to relevant due diligence at each stage in the process, within the context of overall programme and budgetary parameters.

Since 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan (NDP), involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects.

In July the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026-2030 under the National Development Plan (NDP). All Government departments are expected to publish their sectoral NDP Implementation Plans shortly and my department will manage the school building programme in this context. My department’s plan will optimise outputs from the NDP allocations, with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is insufficient, and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money, and meets functional needs.